Overview

Brief Summary

It's not hard to guess where this plant got its name from. Crows, together with curlews, doves, pheasants and gulls, like to eat the berries of this plant. The shiny black berries are edible for people however don't have much flavor. Even grazing animals don't eat crowberry. The plants are either male or female. Once they get berries, it's easy to see which ones are female. However, you can also distinguish the sex if you are fortunate to spot the tiny flowers in early spring. Male plants have pink flowers while female plants have darker purple to red flowers.

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Black crowberry is distributed throughout Alaska, across the YukonTerritory and Canada to Labrador, Newfoundland, and Greenland. Itoccurs south through New England and the Great Lakes states, as well asalong the Pacific Coast to northern California. Black crowberry alsohas a wide distribution throughout Europe [38,42,47].

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Ecology

Habitat

Habitat characteristics

Black crowberry is found from sea level to alpine zones. It occurs in awide variety of habitats including sphagnum bogs or muskegs, opentundra, rockfields, conifer forests, coastal bluffs, and exposed seacliffs [3,38,47,49]. Black crowberry is tolerant of a wide range ofsoil moisture conditions, but is intolerant of prolonged water logging,and on wet sites it is found in better drained areas [5]. Blackcrowberry is adapted to harsh climates and it often inhabits sitesexposed to wind, fog, and salt aerosals. Site characteristics influenceblack crowberry morphology: on sites with high wind exposure, blackcrowberry is branched and prostrate; on wet sites it is sparselybranched and has long annual growth increments; on dry sites it hasbranching shoots and is bushy [5].

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General Ecology

Plant Response to Fire

Black crowberry is slow to recover following fire [5,48,50]. InLabrador, black crowberry decreased significantly in frequency andabundance following fire. Preburn frequency was 61 percent, whilepostburn frequency was 0 percent after 5 years [14]. It also showedlittle or no recovery in 2- or 7 year-old burns in the Seward Peninsula,Alaska [35]. In the Wickersham Dome Fire near Fairbanks, Alaska, blackcrowberry in black spruce stands responded differently in lightly andheavily burned areas. In the lightly burned sites, percent cover was1.4, 1.1, 0.9, and 1.25 in postfire years 1, 2, 3, and 4, respectively.However, in the heavily burned sites, black crowberry cover was 0percent in the 4 years immediately following the fire [46].

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Fire Ecology

Black crowberry generally occurs in communities with long fire intervalsor in communities that lack the dry fuel to sustain a fire [7,24,45].Low growth form and small stems make black crowberry liable to top-killby fire. Belowground parts are also very susceptible to fire damagebecause most of them are located near the soil surface [14,35].Postfire seedlings may arise from seed banks but are not a regularoccurrence [24]. Black crowberry can regenerate vegetatively followingfire [5,20,39], but this process is slow. Normal or prefire densitiesmay not be reached for 20 to 30 years [24].

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Successional Status

Black crowberry is a pioneer on sandy blowouts, dry, lichen-covereddepressions on eskers [3], and in avalanche areas [30]. However, it ismore often associated with late seral or climax communities,particularily white or black spruce types [8,24,45]. Black crowberry iscommon and abundant in old forests that have had no recent fires [14].

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Regeneration Processes

Sexual reproduction: Black crowberry is classified as polygamous,dioecious, or monoecious. The dark-blue to black fruit is a drupecontaining six to nine nutlets [2,13,18]. Seeds are dispersed by birdsand animals [20]. Some seeds may become established under the parent,but seedling mortality is generally high [5]. Black crowberry seedshave been found buried beneath the soil, although only a small percentof the seeds are actually viable [20,32]. Seeds were found in 71percent of soil cores taken from plots near Great Slave Lake, NorthwestTerritories [20].

Vegetative reproduction: Sprouting from underground or basal portionsis the main form of reproduction of black crowberry [5,20,39]. Inaddition, adventitious roots form where procumbent branches come incontact with the ground [5].

Relevance to Humans and Ecosystems

Benefits

Value for rehabilitation of disturbed sites

Black crowberry has been broadly successful at naturally colonizingborrow pits in the tundra regions of northwestern Canada, and may be ofuse in managed reclamation projects [21]. Black crowberry has followedcottongrass (Eriophorum spissum) in the colonization of mined peatlands,but only after decades have elapsed [12]. Dense black crowberry matscatch blowing soils in areas of high wind exposure, and its interlockingroots may help stabilize the steep, rocky slopes it often inhabits.

Black crowberry could not be established by seed on test plots insimulated pipeline trenches near Fort Norman, Northwest Territories[29].

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Importance to Livestock and Wildlife

Black crowberry fruits are utilized as fall and winter forage by over 40species of songbirds, waterfowl, and upland game birds [27,28,44,47].The berries are especially important to grouse and ptarmigan [10,27,47].

Black crowberry seeds are a major component of the red-backed vole'sfall diet [51].

Big game animals that browse black crowberry foliage include reindeer,caribou, and bear [4,17,41]. Bear also eat the berries, so blackcrowberry utilization by bear increases in summer as fruits become ripe.Occurrence of black crowberry fruits in bear scat samples increased from5.9 percent in early spring to 12.9 percent by late summer [26].

The leaves are 3–6 mm (0.12–0.24 in) long, arranged alternately along the stem. The fruits are drupes, 4–6 mm (0.16–0.24 in) wide, usually black or purplish-black but occasionally red.[7]

The fruits contain mostly water. Their vitamin content is low, as is the concentration of volatile liquids, the lack of which makes them almost odorless. The acidity is lower than is typically encountered in forest berries, and benzene acids are almost absent.[citation needed]

After waning popularity, E. nigrum is regaining its reputation as an edible fruit. It provides a steady crop and the gathering is relatively easy. Cooking enhances the flavor. The fruits make good pie and jam.[citation needed]

In subarctic areas, E. nigrum has been a vital addition to the diet of the Inuit and the Sami. The Dena'ina (Tanaina) harvest it for food, sometimes storing in quantity for winter, and like it mixed with lard or oil. The fruits are usually collected in fall, but if not picked they may persist on the plant and can be picked in the spring. They keep well in a cool place without any special preparation. The Inuit and Native Americans mix them with other berries, especially blueberries.

The leaves and stems are used in Dena'ina medicine for diarrhea and stomach problems; they are boiled or soaked in hot water, and the strained liquid drunk. Some claim the fruit juice is good for kidney trouble.[who?] In Dena'ina plantlore in the Outer and Upper Inlet area of Lake Clark, the root is also used as a medicine, being used to remove a growth on an eye and to heal sore eyes. The roots are boiled and the eyes are washed with the strained, cooled tea, to which a little sugar may be added.

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The currently accepted scientific name of black crowberry is Empetrumnigrum L. [2,13,18]. There are two recognized subspecies, both having acircumpolar distribution: Empetrum nigrum subsp. nigrum with unisexualflowers and Empetrum nigrum subsp. hermaphroditum with bisexual flowers[19].